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Manager's Guide to Productivity Measurement

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Manager's Guide to Productivity Measurement 1 PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK Manager’s Guide to Productivity Measurement How To Use This Guide There are numerous benefits toRemote productivity measurement, Work like gaining Policy a continuous view Templateof employee engagement, keeping a pulse on burnout risk, helping teams carve out focused work time, and more. For leaders new to productivity measurement, there are often questions on how to use productivity data effectively without compromising employee trust. This productivity measurement guide will equip you with the knowledge you need to take a modern, ethical, and data- driven approach to productivityHow measurement to Use this that Template empowers teams to do their best work. These techniques and pro-tips can be modified to meet your Manyorganization’s organizations needs are embracing and should remote serve work as aa waycore to framework provide additional that flexibilityyou can to return employees to again and adapt to shifting workforce needs and expectations. When offering remote work arrangements, and again. it is a good idea to establish clear expectations between individuals, managers and the organization to ensure the needs of all parties can be met. This remote work policy template intends to provide you with a starting point for the development of your company’s work from home policy. This is meant to be modified to meet your company’s needs and should About ActivTrak be considered conceptual content for setting up your organization’s remote employment policy. ActivTrak is a cloud-based workforceAbout analytics ActivTrak solution that collects and categorizes user activity data to provide insights that help teams improveActivTrak productivity is a cloud-based - whether workforce working analytics in-office solution that or collectsremote. and The categorizes easy-to-use user activity reports data and dashboards in ActivTrak enableto managers provide insights and that teams help teams to: improve productivity - whether working in-office or remote. The easy-to-use reports and dashboards in ActivTrak enable managers and teams to: • • Measure productivity trendsEstablish across remoteteams work and policies, individuals assess their effectiveness, and make changes for on-going improvement. • Leverage data insights to understand most used apps, • Assess workload balance andtotal burnout work time risk and most productive time periods for both remote and in-office employees. • Identify how and where to •buildAssess more workload focus balance time and into identify daily individuals routines who may be exhibiting signs of burnout so you can make proactive changes. • Enable managers to advocate for the resources their teams need • Understand how time is spent across collaboration tools, multitasking and focus time to help support healthy • Understand which apps andand websites productive are work used habits. most and by which teams • Identify usage of anomalous applications and potential data privacy risks to bolster operational compliance. • Keep a pulse on engagement levels of remote and in-office workers • Share personal productivity reports with individuals to help everyone understand and improve their own work habits. Get started today by creating a free account. Get started today by creating a free account . 2 PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK Chapter One: A Modern Approach to Productivity Measurement TL;DR The past few years have seen some major shifts when it comes to the way employees work. While it may have once seemed crazy to think that employees could work anywhere other than a corporate workspace, the exponentially growing trendline of remote work proves otherwise. With all the changes to the ways we work, it’s natural to wonder whether employee productivity might be suffering in the face of these new challenges. In this guide, we will help you discover a better approach to employee productivity, one that focuses on employee engagement and satisfaction in addition to output. We will also share some of ActivTrak’s proven workforce productivity tips that will bring your employees, workflows, and technologies together to create a better work environment where employee morale and employee productivity go hand-in-hand. No matter what kind of business you work for, we know these tips can help you succeed! 3 PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK Why It’s Time to Start Talking About Productivity Measurement From telecommuting to hot desks and flex-time, the typical workday looks very different than it did even a few years ago. These changes to the standard working environment come with a lot of benefits, however. From a human resources standpoint, remote work increases the available talent pool to include potential team members from across the globe. Numerous studies have also shown that remote work improves work-life balance for employees. For instance, a FlexJobs survey found that 86% of remote workers felt that working remotely reduces their stress and that 21% of workers would even give up their vacation time if it meant they could have more flexible remote work options. Remote work also helps enterprises boost employee retention rates and lower operating costs. According to Forbes’ research, 54% of employees say they would leave their current jobs for one that offered remote flexibility, which translates to an average turnover reduction rate of 12%. Also, enterprises can save an average of $11,000 per year per part-time remote worker. Of course, these shifting approaches to how we work — especially the increased adoption of remote work — come with their own difficulties. For all the conveniences that come with flexible schedules, employees are also forced to navigate a wide variety of new challenges as well. These include dealing with unconventional work environments, relying more on virtual collaboration, managing increased control over their work hours, and handling unprecedented focus challenges that make sitting at a desk and staying on task more difficult than ever. Plus, while many in-office processes have been adapted to fit remote work setups, some are not as effective as they once were. That adds yet another challenge for managers trying to maintain their team’s productivity while managing these new circumstances. The Workplace Is Changing: It’s OK to Ask Questions! In light of all the changes that came with the meteoric rise of remote work, it’s natural for managers to wonder how their team’s productivity compares to what it looked like back when everyone was in the office. • Are my team members operating more efficiently, less efficiently, or the same? • How can I support increasingly flexible remote work environments without compromising productivity levels? • Are processes being followed even though I can’t see them? • How much of the workday is actually productive time, and how much is responding to Slack message after Slack message? These are all great questions to ask in the current landscape, and they’re more common than you might think. The only way to answer these questions — and answer them without just guessing — is to use intelligent workforce productivity technology to uncover what productivity means in your enterprise and measure employee productivity accurately. 4 PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK Defining Productivity But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Before we can start digging into any of your burning questions about how to improve productivity, we have to address one central question first: how do you define productivity? At ActivTrak, we define productivity as the degree to which outputs are efficiently achieved through maximizing inputs. Outputs are unique to each enterprise, but they include any service or product you provide to the market. Inputs or “productivity enablers” tend to be similar across enterprises, encompassing things like teamwork, efficiency, and innovation. Workforce productivity is at its best when three things happen: • People are empowered at an individual level • Processes and workflows are optimized at higher levels • Technology is maximized in your working environment Each of these components is equally important. One of the most common misconceptions about employee productivity — especially in the discourse surrounding remote work — is that your team’s productivity is entirely dependent on the motivation and drive of each individual employee. In reality, employee satisfaction and productivity go hand-in-hand, and they only form one piece of the workforce productivity puzzle. You also need to ensure that your workflows allow your employees to do their best work and that your technology empowers your teams to work efficiently. This is critical to boosting employee morale and, in turn, boosting productivity (but more on that later). 5 PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK How to Approach Productivity Management and Improvement Productivity improvement isn’t a one-off project and it’s not something managers should only look into when they suspect their team’s productivity levels have suffered. To truly empower your employees and set them up for success, you have to strive for a continuous productivity improvement culture. We define that as an ethos and environment in which employee productivity naturally flourishes, employees at all levels feel engaged and empowered, and managers proactively seek out opportunities to help their teams thrive. Here’s how to create this culture in your enterprise: • Regularly reinforce your vision: Productivity means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and your employees must be clear on
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